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Monday, April 26, 2010

Finshed shirt! and what I have been up to...

The weather in Chicagoland has been quite nice for a while... This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Very good for my horse habit and very, very good for the yard work but bad, very, very bad for the sewing room.

Since I was unable to do anything last year in the yard due to my ankle injury, this year I feel like I have 10x the amount to do. EVERYTHING in the yard is either overgrown and out of control or overtaken by weeds or just looking rather disastrously. Easter weekend my hubby and I picked up this rather large load of landscaping stones from the yard center. Yikes... I think the pickup was loaded to capacity.

I have been hard at work in the yard. Re-doing, cleaning up, moving plants around, trimming, taking out dead stuff, and reclaiming other areas. Also been working on getting the veggie garden ready for planting. All my spare time has been out in the yard. whew... making me tired and leaving little time for the sewing room.

Pick-up loaded with about 2000lbs of landscaping materials...

Flower bed: before... somewhere.

Flower bed: after. ahhhh.... there it is! Just one of 6 beds getting re-done.

Finally... this weekend was full of inclement weather... YAY! Sewing room time :) Never have I been so happy to hear the thunderclouds rumbling away. I was having withdrawals from the sewing room.

I finished up my 60's inspired shirt. I did have to re-cut the sleeves, the original sleeves were too tight for my chubby arms. I had already altered the pattern for the sleeve length but the circumference was a little snug. Since I had plenty of fabric and the shirt was destined as a summer shirt I really did not want snugness. I did a slash and spread of the sleeve pattern. slashed from the hem to the sleeve cap and spread it out an inch at the bottom tapering up to nothing at the sleeve cap line. I then re drew the hem and straightened the seam lines. Cut them out basted them in and fit was perfect. (glad I had the extra fabric and I guess I should have made a muslin...)

I decided to a bind finish on the sleeves to pick up the brown at the neckline.

I am very happy with the finished project! :)

Front and sleeve binding detail

Front view on me. the front darts keep it fitted but comfortable.

Blurry back picture...

but you can see the how nice the curved back hem looks about the tush.

Another front view :)

Next on the project list.... I have jumped on the Amy Butler band wagon, I need a new purse, had purchased the pattern and fabric last fall at the sewing expo and figured it would make a perfect spring project.